Allafrica.com ART4AIDS, the biggest contemporary art auction in SA to date, will be held by Stephen Welz &Co in association with Sotheby's on Monday in Rosebank.

The auction, the second of its kind, will raise funds for AIDS orphans in SA. The first, held in Cape Town two years ago, was highly successful and raised R1,2m, and the organisers have high expectations for this one.

"The sale will showcase both local and international artists including Arlene Amaler-Raviv, Marlene Dumas, Marc Quinn, William Kentridge, Robert Hodgins and Beezy Bailey among others," says Mary-Jane Darroll of Stephan Welz.

"Artists made generous contributions for a hugely worthy cause and it will be a fantastic display of contemporary works of art. We have received contributions from many prominent South African artists," she says.

Darroll says of significant interest are the handprints of former president Nelson Mandela, valued at more than R250000. The prints were donated by Touch of Mandela.

Of interest too is an art collaboration between Cape Town artist Beezy Bailey (http://www.beezybailey.co.za/) and Gillian Anderson of X-Files fame. Bailey, grandson of Randlord Sir Abe Bailey and creator of alter-ego artist Joyce Ntobe, has been labelled SA's most irreverent artist.

The value of the conte and pastel untitled painting donated by Kentridge is estimated at R100000 to R110000. Kentridge is recognised as one of the leading international artists.

Not many of the works of contemporary artists have appeared on auction before, and Darroll says this will be a good opportunity to acquire these paintings.

Photography, not often seen on auction, will be of special interest. The photographs by well-known photographers like David Goldblatt, Dale Yudelman, Obie Oberholzer, Minnette Vari, Jo Ractliffe, Abrie Fourie and Josie Borain will come under the hammer. It is unusual to have such a range of photographs of leading photographs on auction, Darroll says.

"There has been a good response to the catalogue and the website and we expect a healthy turnout and support."

The auction function itself is on invitation only, but the public is encouraged to view the artwork on the Art4Aids website (www.art4aids.co.za) and commission their bids by telephone with Stephan Welz.

"The X-Files" producer Frank Spotnitz has his own production company website for Big Light Productions, and has posted something in his blog about the next movie.

Seems a fan ran into David Duchovny at a benefit on October 2 and asked him whatís the status of the next X-Files movie. Duchovny seemed really positive about it being completed in the next year and out in theatres in two years. Was he correct? Here's what Spotnitz says:

"Iím happy to confirm Ė as David [Duchovny] has in several interviews Ė that the rumors about a second X-Files feature film are true. In fact, the studio approached us about doing another feature way back in the summer of 2001, before the ninth and final season of the series was even broadcast.

I canít speak to the accuracy of the timetable you outline above, but I can tell you that Chris and I have been working on the story for some time. If and when contract negotiations with the studio are finally concluded, we will get to work on the script right away."

Jeremy Northam will play Winterbottom and James Fleet will play Eaton in their next movie, an adaptation of Laurence Sterne's 18th-century comic masterpiece "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman."

Steve Coogan will play, um, Steve Coogan, as well as Tristram Shandy and his father, Walter. Former "X-Files" star Gillian Anderson has a cameo as herself.

Confused? You should be. "Tristram Shandy" is arguably the most unfilmable novel in the canon of English literature, and Winterbottom's typically bold solution is to make a movie about the difficulty of making the movie. The script by Frank Cottrell Boyce flicks back and forth between the 18th century and the hapless efforts of the 21st-century filmmakers.

The original book is ostensibly the memoir of a country parson, but actually a brilliant exercise in the fine art of digression, crammed with literary jokes (a black page when Shandy's dog dies, print that dissolves into squiggles). As Shandy tries to tell his life story, he's constantly distracted, interrupted and diverted by his family and household, inadvertently revealing far more about himself than any conventional autobiography.

In fact, the movie -- the real movie, that is -- is funded by Newmarket (taking North American rights), BBC Films, Prescience and the East Midlands Media Initiative. The Works is handling international sales.

None of these financiers is impersonated in the film, although Winterbottom did try to attract backers by offering them the chance to play themselves. That's true to the spirit of Sterne, who tried unsuccessfully to raise the cash to publish his book by auctioning off its dedication.

Sterne ended up paying for publication himself -- and, with unintended symmetry, Winterbottom and Eaton had to invest some equity of their own to complete their funding jigsaw. Shooting starts Oct. 11.